No pause nosebleed techno. A handful of all-star Japanese techno producers emerged from the late-90s heyday of techno, none superior to DJ Shufflemaster. That’s my opinion but his musical output spoke for itself and continues sounding fresh decades later. His tight sampling precision and intangible ability to create a building sensation throughout his recordings made him a constant influence on all the Rush Plus records. His album on Tresor remains an impressive and important piece of techno history and collaboration releases with Cari Lekebusch lessons in techno mastery.
This Face Life As It Is remix hits on all the trademark Shufflemaster techniques but accentuates his 6th sense of creating 4 minutes of unbroken momentum – truly pummeling yet uplifting and reaching for vibrance. Released in 2005 during a notoriously dull period in techno on Takaaki Itoh’s WOLS label, Shufflemaster was still going full throttle, doubling down on the facemelting techno sound that dominated the 90s. If you ever wanted to relive that sound, you should check out Takaaki Itoh & DJ Shufflemaster’s old live sets from that era. Funky techno madness I tell ya!
Jackson Ryland 